GE gets inverter order for 24-MW solar park in Japan

GE has been selected by Toyo Engineering Corporation on behalf of the project owner, GK KS Power 1, a special purpose vehicle consortium by GE Energy Financial Service and K-Energy, to provide its 1,500-volt inverters to build the 24-megawatt (MW) solar plant project located in Katsuura City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

For this project, GE will be delivering 25 of its 1-MW LV5 1,500-volt inverters and 13 medium-voltage transformers with a ring main unit (RMU), all of which will be preassembled onto skids for ease of transportation and installation on-site.

First introduced by GE in 2012, the LV5 1,500-volt solar inverters have achieved a global installed base of more than 5 GW. As a result of the higher DC voltage, GE’s technology enables a reduced number of electrical components, thereby reducing the infrastructure, deployment and running costs of a solar plant.

Solar is soaring in Japan. Boosted by the government’s energy ambition to reach a solar installation of 64 gigawatts (GW) by 2030, solar plants have proliferated on the island. This year, 7 GW of new solar installation is planned to be added to the actual 42 GW of total installed base, which makes the country well ahead of its target.